Adfero Group HSPI

Last week, FEMA began sharing the lessons learned from the TOPOFF 4 Exercises with some of the nation’s leading emergency managers. TOPOFF (short for Top Officials Exercise) is a full scale exercise that takes place every two years in defined locations to test the readiness, response and reaction of participating communities to see, very simply, “What Works” & “What Doesn’t.” FEMA had already shared some of the initial lessons from TOPOFF 4 – which took place in Guam, Phoenix, AZ and Portland, OR in October 2007, and last week’s efforts are another good step to make sure we understand how well we are doing in ‘dealing’ with various ‘events.’

The RNC Welcoming Committee, which describes itself as an anarchist / anti-authoritarian organizing body preparing for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, announced the purchase of tasers to equip rioters – excuse me, ‘members and friends’, – during the upcoming Convention. This raises two equally worrying possibilities about the public order dangers presented by the group.

Below is an excerpt of an opinion article published in today’s Washington Times. To read the article in full, visit the Times website. The article discusses the ongoing need to protect U.S. financial infrastructures as part of the overall homeland security strategy.

The recent report by DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner about the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its progress to institute reforms called for in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina underscores that federal preparedness not necessarily equate to national preparedness. DHS and FEMA have critical but not exclusive responsibility for advancing national preparedness. Thus, leaders in Washington have the responsibility to look for investments in national – not simply federal – solutions for addressing gaps and shortfalls.

At the invitation of DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, last week, Airports Council International – North America staff met with the Secretary and TSA Administrator Kip Hawley to discuss the security benefits of the Registered Traveler Program. Secretary Chertoff engaged in a discussion and dialogue with the assembled group regarding this matter which included high-level DHS [...]

It was with a mix of astonishment and amusement that I noted Blackwater’s contract with the State Department was extended this week. It’s as though Sept. 17, the hearing in front of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the angst between the Departments of State and Defense, and the angst between the Department of State and the Iraqi Government, never happened. Or at least, were inconsequential.

And another one bites the dust…This morning, Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection – less than 24 hours after Oasis Hong Kong Airlines canceled all flights amid an unexpected liquidation process that became public on Wednesday. Oasis and Frontier are just the latest casualties in what has become a freefall within the rapidly collapsing airline industry.

Buried deep within extensive testimony given by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Jay Ahern on April 2 before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee was a brief announcement that CBP has decided not to pursue the Global Trade Exchange cargo shipping risk assessment program. GTX, previously known as the Secure Freight Initiative before that name began being used to describe overseas scanning programs, had ended up being the Spruce Goose of cargo security – oversold and too big a concept for liftoff.

To those who believe that DHS and TSA are simply fighting yesterday’s war, I point to the trial of the liquid explosive plotters (from August 2006) currently taking place in London. The details emerging from the trial are a reminder to all that terrorists remain interested in attacking the global iconic air transportation system.

All eyes are on Capitol Hill this week as General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testify before Congress on Iraq War Policy for the first time since last September. The hot topic of the week is progress—military, political and economic. As expected, General Petraeus asked Congress on Tuesday to temporarily halt troop withdrawals. Current plans mandate that U.S. forces in Iraq will gradually decline to pre-surge levels by the end of July, and Petraeus thinks that a hold on troop reduction would help maintain the recent success and promote further progress in the region.

As we look toward November, this will be the first Presidential election in recent times where one of the key issues debated will be immigration reform and the most effective way to secure the border – in particular the southern border. Right now some Members of Congress and allied interest groups are busy framing border security in the political terms most advantageous to their own partisan interests. Specifically, activists who oppose NAFTA and immigration reform have a vested interest in undercutting DHS’s policies and programs that will reduce chaos, enhance security and support increased legal trade.

As predicted, the Olympic Torch has been extinguished in response to pressures from public order management failures. It was extinguished not once, but twice, calling into real doubt the value of the Olympic Torch’s relay from Greece to the site of the Games in Bejiing. For the more esoteric among us, a philosophical conundrum, “If the Olympic Torch goes out, is it still the Olympic Torch, or just an expensive, almost perpetual cigarette lighter?”

The TSA got it right – this time anyways! A number of security events have occurred in the airline industry over the past week that warrant mention and evaluation – some of them show sound judgment by TSA and other government agencies while others show that we still have a lot of work to do.

Yesterday, I participated in a Blogger Roundtable discussion with DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff that covered a range of topics including immigration reform, emergency preparedness, cyber security, REAL ID, and transition planning.

We’ve heard it being discussed for several years – a more streamlined, simplified and technologically advanced airport security checkpoint process. This past Monday, TSA unveiled the first version of its “Checkpoint Evolution,” designed to lower passenger agitation, increase passenger throughput and improve security by allowing TSO’s to better observe the public.

As words like “resiliency” and “preparedness” have taken on new (and sometimes disputed) meanings over the past few years, both the private and public stakeholders who use the words most frequently seem to come back time and again to ask two related questions: “are you prepared?” and “are we prepared?” This post is the first in a series that will address these and other equally important questions that need answers to improve our nation’s preparedness efforts.